Shrimp and Grits / Chicken and Grits – Something I Make Really Amazing!

Earlier this month, Jacob’s mom and his dad with step mom came to our town because Jacob had the promotion, FINALLY!!  He passed the test a year ago, but they finally promoted him!! So he promoted from a TSgt. Longest to  MSgt. Longest! WOOTWOOT~!! I heard that this is the most hard test to pass in the US Air Force, I’m SO proud of him. Yes, I’m a proud Air Force wife, what~ what~!! ♥  So, to celebrate the day with whole family, I decided to make one of my signature dish, “Shrimp and Grits”. I know, it sounds funny, me- Seonkyoung Longest from South Korea saying Shrimp and Grits is her signature dish? LOL But yes, it is one of my signature dish and this is the dish I will introduce if I go to the show “The Besting I’ve Ever Made” on Food Network. LOL

Shrimp and Grits is one of very southern food, also one of my favorite from southern cuisine. Lots of people THINK they don’t like grits because they didn’t have the “Right” one yet.  Not many people make grits very well, because they make it with water. Grits don’t have any flavor or texture, so you need to dress them up very well. Water, butter, milk and cheese are not enough for them. And that’s what most people do. If you are one of them, you didn’t have the best grits yet, and you can’t make your mind of it yet either. FYI, grits and polenta are basically same thing- Grounded corn. Polenta is yellow and more coarse.

I love to make these with shrimp, but Jacob’s step mom doesn’t like shrimp much, and I learned through my experience, people in south prefer chicken. So, I made Chicken and Grits along with Shrimp and Grits.

This is my shrimp and grits…

The components are my amazing grits, andouille gravy, butter sauteed shrimp with lemon, crispy bacon bits, chopped parley and green onion. Isn’t it just sounds SO-AMAZING?! Yes, the taste will blow your mind. you have no idea what you looking at, until you actually taste it! LOL

And this is my chicken and grits. It’s exactly same thing, I used chicken instead shrimp.

So, now it’s time to talk about what’s the secret for my grits? There is 2 things.
One, I use chicken stock, not water.
It gives so much flavor to the grits along with cream, whole milk, butter and sharp cheddar. These are all the ingredients I use for my grits, of course, salt for seasoning. I don’t use pepper because I want to keep the grits really creamy and flavorful to handle the strong flavor from andouille gravy. Because it’s kinda spicy.
Two, I cook my grits over 2 hours or more.
The grits package says it will be done in 5 minutes and it’s baloney! If you just follow the direction, you never gonna have the real grit is. You have to cook at least 2 hours for the creamy grits, the longer is the better. 🙂

That’s all my secret for my grits, it’s so simple and easy tip but no one never thought doing it. I learned it from the chef in the town where I live, he is the master of southern cuisine, and it was so lucky me to meet him! 😀

I served Shrimp/Chicken and Grits with Strawberry Spinach Salad(the black pearl is sweet black grapes) and corn muffins. ♥

Now it’s time to eat!! Let’s start!!

Oh, everyone LOVED it!!! I was so proud of myself to serve southern foods to my in-laws. 🙂 We all were so happy for Jacob, and proud of him.

XOXO